The series was created by Raymond Thompson and Harry Duffin (from an original idea by Raymond Thompson) and was developed and produced by the Cloud 9 Screen Entertainment Group in conjunction with the UK's Channel 5. It has aired on over 40 broadcast networks around the world.(See: Broadcast history)It debuted on Channel 5 on 24 April 1999 and quickly gained a large fan base.From 1999 to 2003, five series and 260 half-hour episodes were produced. Series 6 was scheduled to begin filming in 2003, but Nick Wilson, of Channel 5,The Tribe Seasons 1-5 DVD and Raymond Thompson felt that "although the show was still performing well, the cast was getting too old and the series was beginning to stretch the core proposition." They felt the characters were not kids fending for themselves without adults any more.